SENIORITIS: HOW BAD IS IT?
From his third floor window, Monsieur Duree peered knowingly at the 2nd semester seniors soaking up spring's rays on the balcony below.
"Bonjour, Stephanie, will we see you today?" he asked in French.
As if the idea of skipping class had never even crossed my mind, I asked, "Is it that time already?" I stumbled up to class. I was lucky...I had only a mild case of the dreaded senioritis.
Honestly, is it really that serious? What is the absolute worst that could happen?
A USA Today (April16, 2010) article notes that senioritis is particularly problematic in an uncertain economy "...with the largest high school graduating classes in history, record numbers of applications and dwindling resources-colleges simply don't know how many students are going to be able to accept their offers. To cope with that uncertainty, many colleges are admitting more students than in the past. They may be more likely to revoke an offer of admission to those who haven't maintained top grades or (have) fallen short in some other way."
The article goes on to quote Sue Wilbur, Director of Undergraduate Admissions at the University of California campuses. She projects that senioritis will result in "50 admissions offers (being) withdrawn at each of (the University of California's) nine campuses."
Given the fact that "final grades were cited by 69% of colleges that revoked admission offers in 2007, " I thought the following "top ten" list was in order.
The Top 10 Ways Parents and Students can Combat Senioritis:
1. Decide whether your senior is truly overwhelmed or simply under-motivated. If he is overwhelmed, perhaps this is a teaching moment. Can he delegate to other members in the extracurricular groups in which he participates or leads?
2. If it is classic senioritis, share this newsletter with your senior.
3. Save her from herself and take the car keys until her motivation returns.
4. Prepare your senior early for the final step of the application process-- the 2nd semester of his senior year. Remind him of the mid-year report his high school will send to his college.
5. FEAR can be a huge motivator. Ask your senior to imagine watching all of her friends leaving for their schools in August while she starts the college application process all over again.
6. If he could not pull himself out of the senior slump and his grades are negatively impacted, it is better that he be proactive and contact the schools regarding the drop in his grades. An explanation is better than the hope that they won't notice.
7. Don't try the bait and switch...listing the 4 APs you are planning to take on the application you send in the fall and then dropping out of 3 of them. Your school will notice.
8. Remember that most schools word your acceptance decision as conditional upon good grades in the final semester of your senior year.
9. More severe cases of "senioritis" can involve "lapses in judgment or integrity, such as cheating, plagiarism, drinking or drug use." Your high school is OBLIGATED to report such mistakes...senioritis or not.
10. In a recent speech called, "Who Gets In?" Dean James Miller of Brown University (formerly Head of Admissions at Harvard and Bowdoin) noted that for some reason, in addition to poor judgment on social networking sites, the band trip seems to be another place where students show poor judgment and tend to have their admissions offers rescinded.
You are almost done. Be careful and smart. Above all, use common sense in your behavior and remain diligent academically.
